STAND TOGETHER TO BATTLE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

Editor: This is an open letter to all members of the Alberta First Nations
Chiefs of Police Association addressing the recent recommendations of the
Senate Committee on the legalization of marijuana.

Dear Fellow Chiefs,
Our legislators have been loudly banging on the gateway to madness with a
recommendation to legalize a most insidious substance, marijuana. I want
our shoulders to be jointly placed on that gate and keep the monster that
lurks there exactly where it belongs . . . under a law on the books. Over
the past decade police and governments have jointly spent millions on
combating drugs. The three-fold approach was to locally target street
traffickers, have the federal authorities pursue the international
criminals and, most importantly, to put resources into education programs.
Most police agencies now have trained DARE/School Resource Officers working
in the schools with an anti-drug message. The incredible effort made in
this area has been successful only because of the hard work of our
partnering school boards, health boards and parent advisory committees. Am
I to conclude that we have been educating the wrong people? It is true the
justice system is being taxed by the heavy case load of drug prosecutions.
Some prosecutions, for the lack of financial resources, have had to be
abandoned and recently $1 million had to be spent to build a special
hearing facility to prosecute organized crime gang members. It is only
because the drug criminals can mount huge, elaborate, cash-driven defences
that our justice system is being held to ransom and rendered ineffective.
It seems that drugs have declared war on the citizenry and we're about to
surrender. That it is deemed to be no more harmful than alcohol is of
little comfort to police on the front lines. Now marijuana, like alcohol,
can be bootlegged by crime groups, allowing them to concentrate on the next
drug destined for legalization (you choose . . . cocaine, ecstasy,
methamphetamine . . . ). Luckily, we have a group of experts who can manage
this new industry for our government. Just as soon as we pardon them all
and release them from jail they can become the executives for "Pharmacon
Canada." Free thinkers in our government are incapable of dealing with this
crime and their solution is to put that responsibility onto our communities
and our children. Stand together, don't go unheard, demand responsibility
on this issue.

ALF RUDD President, Alberta First Nations Chiefs of Police Association